Yesterday we told you about doubts Edmunds Inside Line raised about a California man who claimed his Prius had raced out of control. Today, more people are looking into the story.

Jalopnik thinks James Sikes, the man in the incident, may have had a motive: “James Sikes, the San Diego runaway Toyota Prius driver, filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and now has over $700,000 in debt. According to one anonymous tipster, we’re also told he hasn’t been making payments on his Prius,” they write, adding, “it’s potential motivation for wanting to find an out — any out — on paying for the vehicle.”

Jalopnik’s questions about Sikes’ motives add to questions Inside Line raised about the story. Inside Line pointed out that it’s relatively easy to shift the Prius into neutral, even at highway speeds. They also found it odd that though he claimed to be doing well over 90, Sikes managed to avoid an accident on a California highway for over 20 minutes — while panicking.

The Associated Press says the runaway Prius story may be reinforcing itself. “Experts on consumer psychology say the relentless negative media attention Toyota has received since the fall makes it much more likely that drivers will mistake anything unexpected — or even a misplaced foot — for actual danger.” AP adds, “In just the first 10 weeks of this year, 272 complaints have been filed nationwide for speed control problems with the Prius, according to an Associated Press analysis of unverified complaints received by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. By comparison, only 74 complaints were filed in all of last year, and just eight the year before that.”

Autoblog Green comments, “We’ll let the authorities investigate these latest cases and determine as best they can what happened there, but we also want the madness to calm down. Problems should be fixed, sure, but just because some people have problems doesn’t mean everyone does.”

The day after the Prius incident in California, according to reports, a Prius accelerated suddenly in New York. In that incident, a woman was pulling out of her driveway when she says the accelerator stuck, causing the Prius to surge forward into a stonewall. No one was hurt in the incident.

However, Richard Schmidt, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, writes in the New York Times that the kind of driveway scenario the woman describes is a prime example of driver error being mistaken for a mechanical problem. Shchmidt has spent much of his career investigating cases of unintended acceleration for automakers. His work has found that reports of unintended acceleration “typically happened when the driver first got into the car and started it. After turning on the ignition, the driver would intend to press lightly on the brake pedal while shifting from park to drive (or reverse), and suddenly the car would leap forward (or backward). Drivers said that continued pressing on the brake would not stop the car; it would keep going until it crashed.” Schmidt adds, “Drivers believed that something had gone wrong in the acceleration system, and that the brakes had failed.”

When engineers would examine the cars, they’d find nothing was wrong. Schmidt writes, “Several researchers hypothesized how a driver, intending to apply the brake pedal to keep the car from creeping, would occasionally press the accelerator instead. Then, surprised that the car moved so much, he would try pressing harder. Of course, if his right foot was actually on the accelerator, the throttle would open and the car would move faster.” The result? “This would then lead the driver to press the ‘brake’ harder still, and to bring about even more acceleration. Eventually, the car would be at full throttle, until it crashed. The driver’s foot would be all the way to the floor, giving him the impression that the brakes had failed.”

Of course, Schmidt’s reasoning doesn’t explain the reports of the runaway Prius in California, and it doesn’t prove that nothing was wrong with the Prius in New York. But, driver error plus increased publicity may explain some of the spike in reports of problems with Toyota.

Check out the latest Toyota recall news and information, including how the company’s recent troubles affect our rankings. If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.

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Thinking about buying a Toyota? You’re not alone.

Automotive News reports, “New incentives are boosting Toyota’s U.S. sales big time in early March, and analysts forecast a 30 percent bounce for the full month.” The expected sales increase comes after Toyota sales fell 10 percent in February, amid recalls and Congressional hearings.

However, Toyota isn’t the only one reaping a sales bounce. Edmunds Auto Observer says, “In the first eight days of March, the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of U.S. sales climbed to 12.5 million units, the highest level since September 2008, excluding August 2009 when Cash for Clunkers was at fever pitch.”

Automakers like Ford, GM and Toyota are currently offering zero-percent financing. In some cases, those terms are good for up to five years.

While the incentives are driving sales, being so generous could cost automakers in the long run. According to Edmunds, the incentives will cost Toyota over a billion dollars, which could affect their profitability this year.

While analysts think that the incentives are a good short-term fix that may not fix Toyota sales in the long term, Autoblog says, “That may be true, but we’re thinking Toyota must be more than a bit relieved that customers are coming back to showrooms, at least for now.”

Check out the latest Toyota recall news and information, including how the company’s recent troubles affect our rankings. If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.

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We’re not surprised you’re thinking about hitting Wal-Mart this weekend.

AOL Autos reports, “TeleNav, one of the largest providers of navigation services for millions of subscribers via cell phone, recently unveiled data that showed exactly what people are searching for. With Americans increasingly setting their GPS to find anything and everything, one begins to wonder: where exactly are 13 million people going?”

The New York Times says, “Apparently, to places where they will find bargains, fast food and cheap gas. During December of last year (the first month for which TeleNav has detailed, word-specific data), Wal-Mart was the number one business destination in the United States for navigation users. This should be no surprise given the state of the economy during the holiday gift-giving season. On the other hand, while some people were looking for cheap DVD players, it appears nearly as many folks were willing to spend money on little luxuries. To wit, Starbucks came in a close second to Wal-Mart.”

The results were even broken down by region. Turns out that people in Chicago search for pizza the most, while New Yorkers searched for Chinese food. Good luck finding decent Peking Duck at Wal-Mart.

Autoblog adds, “Have we ever used a nav system to find a Walmart? Yeah, once, but we were in Louisiana and in need of spray paint (don’t ask). We’ll sleep okay tonight.”

If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.

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Sarah Connor warned us that one day the machines would rise up. Maybe they have.

Autoblog reports, “Not one day after a high-profile incident involving a Prius taking off on its owner in Southern California, we’re hearing reports that another one of Toyota’s popular hybrids has suffered unintended acceleration in New York.”

According to the Detroit Free Press, “A woman smashed into a stone wall this morning because of a stuck accelerator on a Toyota Prius, Harrison police said. The 56-year-old driver suffered non-life threatening injuries, acting Chief Anthony Marraccini said. The woman was pulling out of the driveway at 3700 Purchase St. facing forward when the accelerator stuck, police said. The car ’shot’ across the street smashing into a stone wall, Marraccini said.”

Kicking Tires writes, “Police there said they’ve almost ruled out the floormat as the cause of the accident because it was tied to the seat base with plastic ties. That was an early fix that Toyota dealers installed while they waited for a more permanent solution to the problem.” Kicking Tires adds, “That permanent solution still seems to be in the works for the Prius models. Other models such as the Camry have already received extensive retrofits, including shortening the accelerator pedal and adding a brake override system. Toyota says its solutions for the floormat recall — initiated last fall — are rolling in nature, meaning that some models, like the Prius, still don’t have fixes in place.” Still, Kicking Tires comments, “with all the scrutiny involving congressional hearings, it’s a bit of a shock that so much work remains to be done.”

Not everyone is convinced that the case of the California Prius is all its cracked up to be, however. Inside Line has tackled the question in their “Was This Prius Really ‘Out of Control’?” feature.

In it, Inside Line goes straight through the report from James Sikes, the driver of the Prius. According to Inside Line, Sikes “basically claimed that he pressed the gas to pass someone and ‘then the thing just jumped and kept going.’” Inside Line then says, “For one, anybody that has ever driven a Prius knows that it never ‘jumps’ forward no matter how hard you press the pedal. It ability to accelerate is so modest that we find it hard to believe that anyone would be startled by its thrust.”

They also point out, “This driver not only had time to call the police after it ‘ran out of control,’ he managed to drive the car for another 20 minutes until the police showed up. How out of control could the car have been if he was driving on a busy highway for nearly half an hour?” Inside Line also notes that the California Highway Patrol never used a patrol car to slow the Prius down, as reports had indicated (instead, the Patrol Officer used a loudspeaker to direct Sikes to use the brakes and the emergency brake). Inside Line also disputed Sikes’ claim that he couldn’t shift the Prius into neutral, providing a video that shows putting a Prius into neutral at high speeds is not only possible, but easy (provided, of course, you aren’t panicking).

Inside Line’s piece raises interesting questions about the recent incidents involving the Prius. In both cases, Toyota has dispatched personnel to investigate the matter.

Check out the latest Toyota recall news and information, including how the company’s recent troubles affect our rankings. If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.

Have your say: share your thoughts and opinions

(flag abuse)Posted: 2010-03-11 10:58:02Tom B writes:

As a Prius owner myself, someone not knowing the timing requirement to get it to shift into neutral when in drive may think they can’t do it. You have to hold the lever in the neutral position for at least 3/8’s of a second; otherwise it will not shift into neutral. Most Prius drivers do not know this. A friend who is also a long time Prius owner tried as an experiment (he did this multiple times) to shift into neutral when in drive and reported that he could not. I had to educate him on there being a timing requirement for this task. While not as bad as the 3 seconds needed on the power switch to shut the car down when moving, built in lags can easily fake people out even when they are not in panic mode!

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Maybe the Ford Transit Connect winning the North American Truck of the Year award at this year’s Detroit Auto Show signaled to the world that vans are cool again. Or maybe businesses are looking for the right vehicle to jumpstart the economy. Either way, Nissan has decided to jump into the work van pool.

Left Lane News reports, “Japanese automaker Nissan has officially entered the large commercial van market with its new lineup of NV vans. Available in three model levels, two roof heights and with a pair of V6 and V8 gasoline engines, the NV vans clearly target traditional large vans like the Ford E-Series and Chevrolet Express – even if they borrow some tricks from more contemporary competition.”

Autoblog adds,”‘NV’ rather unimaginatively stands for Nissan Van, for what it’s worth – relies on three different designations, NV1500, 2500 HD and 3500 HD, and two different roof heights (the High Roof is only available on the NV2500 HD and NV3500 HD models) to provide a platform for every conceivable need.”

Pickuptrucks.com says, “Instead of a conventional short-nose configuration, where part of the engine sits in the cab next to the driver, the NV has a long-nose front end, like a full-size pickup truck. Nissan has positioned the engine ahead of the A-pillar and firewall. That’s not surprising, since the NV is based on a modified version of the Nissan Titan half-ton pickup’s F-Alpha body-on-frame platform. The long-nose layout also makes maintenance easier because most of the powertrain can be accessed under the van’s hood.”

Inside Line writes, “No diesel-powered version or extended wheelbase variant have been announced. At 240.9 inches in overall length, the NV is about the same size as the smallest Dodge Sprinter was and a little more than five feet longer than the wee little Transit Connect. A Standard Roof version will hold ‘220+’ cubic feet of stuff. The High Roof will swallow ‘300+’ cubic feet of goods.”

Jalopnik thinks the NV has a market waiting for it: “It’s kind of ugly and pretty awkward, but dag-gummit it’s the perfect size for a good small taco truck.” If you’ve got a craving for tacos, the NV hits the market in fall 2010.

If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.

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One of the biggest hits at this year’s Geneva Motor Show was the Porsche 918 concept. The super-slick plug-in hybrid surprised the automotive press with its good looks and green-monster powertrain. Now, Porsche wants to actually build the thing.

The U.K.’s Autocar says, “Porsche boss Michael Macht says that staff in the firm are fully committed to building the 918 Spyder, the biggest shock - and hit - of the Geneva motor show. Taken from drawing to show car in under five months, the 918 mixes a 500bhp petrol V8 with two electric motors for a combined 718bhp. Porsche has calculated that it could be quicker than the old Carrera GT around the Nordschleife.”

Autoblog Green says, “The key is that the car has to be profitable. Porsche won’t build the 918 as a loss leader just to get it out there.”

As a result, Left Lane News reports, “Porsche now says it is looking for letters of intent from possible buyers to determine if the car has production potential.” Before you stick your letter of intent in the mail, Left Lane News says you should know that while the concept came together in a matter of months, “buyers will reportedly wait closer to five years, according to company insiders estimating time to get the car to production.”

That just gives you more time to save up enough money to actually afford one.

If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.

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